He could avoid it. He could say, "It's not my problem." But it really is. Rampant crime in Lehigh Valley cities, and especially Allentown, is everyone's problem. It affects us all.In today's State of the County address, which you can read in its entirety below, Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham takes direct aim at our cities' most immediate problem - a crime problem so severe that most people won't set foot in Allentown after sunset.
Like a true leader, Cunningham faces this problem head on, while others sit on their hands. Allentown Mayor Pawlowski's solution to Allentown's crime problem? Fine dining. Allentown Brew Works and Johnny Mañana's (that's with a ñ, damn it!) may be great places to eat, but they don't stop crime. On the day of Pawlowski's Fiesta fuñdraiser, four people were shot. One of them died. See what I mean?
While Pawlowski and other apologists pretend there's no problem, Cunningham has actually proposed a solution for Lehigh County's highest crime areas - community policing. He made this bold announcement during today's "State of the County Address."
"Crime costs Lehigh County taxpayers about $1.1 million per week, or 65 cents on every tax dollars, and, under Pennsylvania’s system, it’s all spent on crime and criminals after a crime occurs," said Cunningham. "We want that to change."
His "Safe Streets" program establishes a $1 million fund to pay for half of the cost of designated community police officers in municipalities who submit a community policing plan for a particular neighborhood or downtown area. Police officers under this initiative would have to work most shifts during the high crime hours of 3:00 to 11:00 PM, and patrol on bicycle or on foot, based out of a community substation.
"Community policing works," said Cunningham. "It worked in New York City in the 1990’s, and it worked in Bethlehem in 2000. The presence of a cadre of community police officers on foot and on bicycles will do more than another office building to bring people back downtown."
In addition, Cunningham has proposed Pennsylvania’s first regional crime data center. This center will consolidate all police operations and crime data in the Lehigh Valley. Any incident report or information on a perpetrator or a crime would instantly flow from the various police departments into one central repository where county crime analysts would help local police departments identify patterns, solve crime and take criminals off our streets.
The regional crime data center builds on the concept of Lehigh County’s newly-opened central booking facility, housed in the Lehigh County Prison. This new booking system relieves a burden on officers, and gets them back on the street, where they can keep people secure.
Cunningham also noted that Lehigh County is underway on its new 911 Communication Center. located next to the Government Center. That includes a GPS system to track cell phone calls and a full reverse 911 capability to blast information out to emergency responders in the event of an emergency.
I hope Mayor Pawlowski was taking notes.
78 comments:
Easy to throw around a million dollars and say you have a solution.
Dude, Do you think police work and risk their lives for free? It takes money, and Cunningham has found some for the area's most pressing need. Or would you rather have public money subsidizing the fat cats?
So where did you expect Paws to come up with the million? Or is it only a "solution" if one of your favored elected officials comes up with it? Cunningham gets his ass kissed for merely offering a million dollars? Wow. What a guy. He's a genius!
It sounds like a great solution to me and I applaud Cunningham for taking the lead on this. Now how can we get a more realistic dollar figure in his Safe Streets Fund? If crime is costing us more than the fund's suggested $1 million 'endowment' each week, seems like we need to fund that fund better. Could we get $10 million in that fund? $25 million? What would it take ...
I said it before. Allentown's troubles are economic foremost. Securing funds to increase policing is the hard part.
Anon 11:44,
Dude, instead of whining, fill out the application before all that money goes to Bethlehem. Allentown is economically blighted and has trouble coming up with the dough to get officers. So take the money and run while you can.
I think that it's been established that restaurants don't stop crime.
"Cunningham gets his ass kissed for merely offering a million dollars?"
As compared to the anonymous douche bags who do nothing but complain on this blog about how Bernie attacks political figures rather than actually state their own solutions or valuable opinions to what is being said and/or proposed.
There's finally some money that could be coming to help fight crime in Allentown and the Valley instead of funding Mayor Pawlowski's tip jar.
Pawlowski's only solution to fighting crime is to having the citizens handle it themselves. Someone is finally trying to put some police into the city and you have a hissy-fit.
The next time you're walking down Hamilton St. and get mugged, don't complain that nobody was there to help you. They were too busy hanging out at the Brew Works on the city's tab.
The County Executive is picking up the ball that the mayor dropped and kicked out of Ailingtown's back yard. Cunningham is doing what he can, while Pawlowski urges the citizens to police themselves. It would be cheaper to give each and every homeowner an Automatic rifle and banana clip. There's a suggestion!
Cunningham has "found some" money. Too bad the mayor of Allentown can't just "find" money or he might have put more cops on the street a long time ago. Funny how easy it is to put more cops on the beat when you actually have money to do it.
AJ, I may be an anonymous douche bag but I can spell "sequel" correctly.
AJ, I may be an anonymous douche bag but I can spell "sequel" correctly.
True. You've got that going for you. I'll bet you were educated at Chicago's Moody Bible Institute, and learned all kinds of neat things.
The last thing the Lehigh Valley needs is more police presence. You were concerned that Allentown is becoming fascist, and convincing people that more police power is needed by spreading fear of crime is a standard step to fascism. I left Allentown around 2 AM last night, as I've usually done at least once a week for about six years now, and I haven't been mugged yet. In fact, I've experienced more "random acts of kindness" in the city of Allentown than anywhere else in the Valley, but those are stories for another time.
I want to know why my blog doesn't qualify for a news blog when it's strictly for (fashion, music, etc.) news. If it has to be listed under "Local Nonpolitical Blogs," I demand a note to the effect of, "Definitely not a personal blog, since personal blogs are dumb" ;)
Great Idea from Don Cunningham. Lookslike Cunningham beat Ed Pawlowski to the punch by proposing a good crime fighting initiative while Pawlowski cancelled his crime initiatives press conference to schmooze Ed Rendell on Friday. I wonder where they comped lunch?
EP could raise the money, all he has to do is float another "Bond Refinancing" LOL! Maybe he could get Butz and Co to pay for a private police force around their building. Then the cops could protect regular people from the hoodies. Hey O'hare, what's all this stuff about EP's church? Don't you think those that worship together should work together?
Jesus would eat at Manana's! (Screw the n!) Remember, he ate at the tax collector's house! Why wouldn't he eat at a tax subsidized one?! You could always find Jesus where the sinners were! That's one thing he and EP have in common!
So lessee, the city has hired 40+ replacement cops, run joint ops with the US Attorney and state police, worked with the DA on a homicide task force that has actually caught some bad guys, put more computers in squad cars to keep cops on the street instead of the squad room doing paperwork, reactivated the bike cops program, community policing, and traffic unit and all Pawlowski is doing is "fine dining?" Do more of your vaunted research. A quick headline search in the library refreshed my memory of these things, and I probably missed a few.
I think Don's proposal is great, and will be a big help to the city, by the way. But just because you have a bone to pick with Pawlowski doesn't mean you should ignore the things his people are trying to do here. Allentown has a good police department and its working hard. But it does need more people to stop gangbangers from whacking each other twice a month. Then again, maybe it should let them keep doing it. Eventually, there won't be any left to commit crimes.
Liza, I apologize for improperly putting you in the wrong category, and will correct that error. But if you think A-town needs less cops, God bless you.
Do you think Ed Pawlowski had nothing to do with this?
I am willing to take a guess and conclude this is as much of a success for Pawloski as it is for anyone else. Do you really think Mayor P is just sitting on his hands with no desire to address the issue or is it possible that he has been making phone calls and knocking on doors to find funding for more police from nontraditional resources (such as the county among others).
That being said, I really don't view 7 to 10 officers as a big bold move, but it is a start.
Anon 12:49,
Unfortunately for you, I do my research.
When he ran for mayor, Pawlowski made three promises.
First, he knew all these federal programs that would produce more police officers. That promise was broken. According to the mayor's own state of the city address, the force was at its lowest level in decades last year. We all know there will be many more retirements this and next year.
Second, Pawlowski promised he would use LC deputy sheriffs, and Sheriff Rossi stood at his side as he said that. After his election, nada. That's a second broken promise.
Third, Pawlowski the candidate promised to use citizen volunteers, but Pawlowski the mayor is still promising that twoi years later.
His approach to crime - the city's most serious problem, is laughably pathetic.
Now let's take a gander at some of the things you're giving Pawlowski credit for. Of course, he's hired cops, and that's bc the city let its force drop to a pitifully low level under his tenure.
He's had nothing to do with the anti-gang task force. That's not his initiative. Not even close.
The computers in police cars? That's Congressman Dent.
Instead of such a bloated administration, why not a few more cops?
He has a serious problem on his hands and has done next to nothing about it. He has in fact broken campaign promises. He has tried to sweep the poor out of the way. I guess you can call that an anti-crime measure.
But Pawlowski the mayor is not the Pawlowski who ran for office. That's why so many members of his administration have abandoned him.
WOW!
I am thrilled Don Cunningham has the courage to say "Here's a problem I see, and here are the solutions we will begin with."
I'm not sure Pawlowski had a hand in someone finally making such needed revelations, but I doubt it, or he would have made a similar statement on his own, then given the county credit for their support.
What Cunningham has done here is demonstrate LEADERSHIP.
It would seem Mayor Ed is using his term for on-the-job training. In this instance, Don Cunningham has proven an excellent teacher.
Thank you :) But I didn't mean to imply that Allentown should cut back on cops. I think the current number of them would be fine if they were doing their job. I come from a family of law enforcement and I am not pleased with how steadily police corruption has risen in this area. If anything, maybe we need some new officers, not more officers.
Leadership is writing a check for $1 million? Interesting.
not to AGAIN jump to the defense of EP (who i don't even like but who i think is unfairly slammed by local bloggers), he proposed community policing over a year ago but got little support and certainly was unable to back up that proposal with funding to get it done.
Don is everyone's golden boy - as well he should be - but he's got the luck of having a good budget and sky high popularity that he can make things happen that less well-liked and well-backed politicians can not. Allentown is lucky that Lehigh County is flush right now and can invest in the city's well being.
"Don is everyone's golden boy - as well he should be - but he's got the luck of having a good budget and sky high popularity ..."
Better lucky than good, I guess. But I doubt luck is the secret to Cunningham's popularity.
for me personally, its his Springsteen covers that do the trick.
not to AGAIN jump to the defense of EP (who i don't even like but who i think is unfairly slammed by local bloggers),
I've slammed Mayor Pawlowski here, especially recently. But there's nothing unfair about this criticism.
If anything, they are way overdue. Every criticism has been amply substantiated, including this one. You're just not used to reading them.
Other bloggers have made their own charges and they can handle themselves. The simple truth is that Pawlowski the candidate made three promises about crime, and Pawlowski the mayor broke every one of them. His crime solution has been fine dining.
I do not call him names and back up every accusation I make. Wanna disagree? That's fine. But you're in no position to talk about fair or unfair slams. You called McCain a snake, Lincoln a bigot and the R party the party of oppression.
In fact, you make this claim without naming the bloggers or explaining how they've been unfair. Is that fair?
If you want to make a direct attack against someone else, do it on that person's blog. If you want to complain about me, be specific.
Here's a local crime fighting bright spot ...
Lehigh County DA Jim Martin appears to have our local Sex Crime Beat totally in hand. Martin's been all over the "Porn at Parkland" case and the "Shiatsu Massage Spa Sex" case. I just hope DA Martin's laser-beam focus on this kind of high priority crime isn't diverted by his (and now I'm switching from sarcasm to seriousness) upcoming appeal to the PA Superior Court.
As was reported in The Morning Call, DA Jim Martin announced he will be appealing Judge Steinberg's recent tossing of Martin's charges in the "Shiatsu Massage Spa Sex" case.
Judge Steinberg deemed it "outrageous" that the police and the DA's office would employ a paid informant to have sex at Shiatsu, four (4) times, prior to filing charges.
Martin is quoted as saying that Steinberg's ruling was "absurd" and that Steinberg used his own "moral compass" instead of the law to make the decision.
This all sounds much too familiar.
It wasn't that long ago that DA Jim Martin was engaged in a similarly petty and personal war of words with then APD Chief Stephen Kuhns and Mayor Roy Afflerbach.
Kuhns and Afflerbach both claimed that DA Martin was slowing them down in their efforts to step-up crime fighting in Allentown.
First a Police Chief scuffle .. then a Mayor maul .. now DA Jim Martin is jawing it out with a local judge.
Possibly our DA Jim Martin just doesn't play well with others?
Whatever.
With Allentown currently overrun with gangsters who are shooting people in the head, now would be a good time for DA Jim Martin to learn how to be a Team Player in Allentown's crime fighting efforts.
And unless Martin is striving to become a punchline in a Jay Leno monologue and a national laughingstock, I'd strongly suggest he let Judge Steinberg "win" the Shiatsu Massage Spa Sex case and drop his sore loser appeal to the PA Superior Court.
We need our DA to have his head in the very serious crime fighting game ... and not in a petty and personal playing games game. Again.
funny how cunningham is being viewed as "lucky" that he has the budget and the popularity to advance his agenda. kinda like saying that Joe Montana was "lucky" that all those wide receivers made those catches thru the course of his career.
maybe...just maybe, luck has nothing to do with it.
Well Don Cunningham seems to 'get it'. And as a resident of Allentown, any help is greatly appreciated.
However, I have a growing concern.
First, Allentown's problems are not due to a lack of revenue. In fact, for every year since 2001, the city has had record revenues coming in to the city. There is a perception, facilitated by City Hall, that Allentown is suffering from a declining revenue, which is not true.
Second, Mayor Pawlowski has GREATLY expanded the bureaucracy (political patronage jobs) at City Hall and handed out very generous pay raises. This easily exceeds a million dollars a year.
Third, the Mayor is greatly increasing debt expenses on the city budget. The $10 million dollar loan (to produce a $5 million surplus) has imposed a debt burden of $2.2 million a year for ten years.
My concern is that Mayor Ed is being rewarded for his fiscal irresponsibility. He shook down county taxpayers for money to fix the Linden St. bridge. Now he is shaking down county taxpayers to pay for Allentown police?
Again, I think Don's motivations are understandable. But Allentown has more than enough resources to fix its own problems. But the Mayor and City Hall waste these resources and have a distorted sense of priorities. The EMS tax was supposed to pay for more police. We knew that was a lie then and it has proven to be so.
The county owns the Linden St Bridge. How is it the city's responsibility to fix it?
Isn't it appropriate that the city make sure entities owning property in the city limits not let them fall into disrepair?
Susan,
I don't know the deal in LC. In NC, nearly all bridges are owned by the county. There are a few exceptions.
I'd agree with the assertion that we need to repair our aging and decaying infrastructure.
Joe, you indicated that Mayor Pawlowski has greatly expanded the number of patronage jobs within the city and has awarded salary increases. Can you be specific? How many jobs? Where are they? Yes, I'm asking for an itemized list, and I'd like to know what positions were given salary increases.
You can post it here or send it to me back channel at BOHare5948@aol.com
I can't believe how much debate there is over trying to lower the crime rates in Allentown.
It's a shame we can't all be on the same side.
AJ, I couldn't agree with you more...
The county comes up with a million dollar pool of money to hire more police officers, much of which Allentown will probably qualify for if they apply, and people are complaining. I don't get it.
Couldn't we just say "thank you" and wait for the check to roll in?
Last week Dent was attacked by these bloggers for bringing money into the Lehigh VAlley for these same purposes, but now Cunningham is judged to be brave, courageous and brilliant for discovering the problem and bringing 1/20th of the money Denthas already brought in for police, drug interdiction, gang crime etc.,all the same things Cunningham promised THIS week.
This just proves its the letter after the name that makes the difference to many people. What a shame.
Lets just get the job done! Allentown can use everyone's help.
Not so casual,
I'm with you. It's like I say on the top of this blog, we're all in this mess together. When Charlie Dent brough A-town some much needed money, he was attacked as an opportunist. I believe he's going to be attacked again soon bc I believe even more $ is on the way. Some folks praised Don today, but others were downright nasty, even to him, bc Cunningham delivered on something that Pawlowski has ignored. That's sad. I'm gettting a little tired of hearing supposed progressives referring to Cunningham as "lucky" or as a "golden boy." It's possible, just possible, that he may just be very good at what he does. Perhaps it's not just luck.
You point to those who blame Dent but cheer Cunningham. I point to those who blame Dent and blame Cunningham.
It's time to stop that silly nonsense and recognize a good deed for what it is.
Bernie, you keep saying things like "Don delivered on something Pawlowski has ignored." That's simply not true. Why don't you call Ed Pawlowski, not his aides, and ask for an interview. Ask him the questions, in person. I see so many people here saying what Pawlowski did and didn't do, but I don't see anyone, anywhere saying they got it from him, directly.
Do you think Pawlowski would actually grant any bipartisan blogger an interview?
He won't even listen to the business owners on Hamilton St.
Anon 9:00 PM,
1) I have called Pawlowski's office. He has my cell #. He can call me whenever he wants, day or night. He can even have his propaganda minister minister call me, but I'm not settling for the usual snow job.
2) I have emailed Pawlowski, as recently as Thursday, and have no answer.
3) Cunningham has delivered on something Pawlowski ignored. He made three very specific promises about the police protection for the city when he ran for office, and he broke every one of them. That's reality, dude.
4) I would very much like to support Pawlowski. I am sure his job is very demanding. But he has had two years to start work on the promise he made about making the city safe. Time's up. Fine dining is not a solution to Allentown's crime problem.
AJ,
When McDermott worked for Pawlowski, I always got answers. He'd follow up conversations with emails so that we were clear. The first time I called Mr. Moore about LANTA, I kept getting the same mantra over and over. I emailed my blog top him and got no response. When Tipgate erupted, his office had me leave a message. That was last Wednesday. No answer. My email was Thursday. No answer.
Did you also see how I qualified that Don C *should* be everyone's golden boy? I happen to think he's a great county exec, and have praised him highly here, on my blog, and on the LV Poliblog.
Why do I call him lucky? Because he has walked into an office where the previous office-holder raised taxes so high that he will not have to raise taxes even once during his tenure as county exec. He's full of great ideas, but has the luck of being able to finance his plans without having to go back to taxpayers - believe me his policies would be received very differently if "and I'm raising your taxes to pay for this" was attached to his agenda. This doesn't detract from how good his ideas are, or how good of an official he is - I'm merely pointing out that he is subject to considerably less criticism than any other current officeholder (except maybe Bob Freeman, another great lv pol) that I can think of. Its easy for him to float good ideas and get praise because everyone already likes him.
Why do I bring this up? Because Ed Pawlowski proposed community policing over a year ago and it was largely ignored by the community and had he talked about financing a new initiative like that inevitably he would have been torn apart for his "spending problem" or some other similar attitude.
I'll be very interested to see what Joe H. can shed light on, perhaps these patronage jobs and/or salary raises could be found by looking at the city budget somewhere? I don't know how much of this information is available to the public or not. I'd like to know where my tax dollars are going, too.
Your insistence on repeatedly singling me out as some kind of blind opposition because I raise questions that might SLIGHTLY deviate from your opinions is unwarranted and rude. If that is the result of my posting responses on your blog, I will cease to participate, because its getting old.
Bernie, For all of the respect I have for you--a lot, actually--I continue to be perplexed at the shoddiness (and strange nastiness) of the attacks here and in other recent posts. This is your weakest peg of all: You take a great set of proposals by Don Cunningham on crime as reason to … slam Ed Pawlowski. How could these proposals--the community policing money and the data center--be anything but good news for all of us (including, presumably, Pawlowski) that want crime to drop? This obviously isn’t a zero-sum game--like some kind of spitting match--but instead a common problem that everyone should be working on. What a bizarre moment to lash out at Pawlowski. Applaud Cunningham? Absolutely. Cheer for Allentown and LC? Of course. We’re all on the same team here.
I frankly have no idea what is driving your emotional vendetta at Pawlowski, but it’s leading to sloppiness. Allentown’s crime problem is real, and the homocide rate last year was appalling. “A crime problem so severe that most people won’t set foot in Allentown after sunset.” Come on, Bernie. This is insulting; it’s not true; and it’s conflating perceptions of crime with rates of crime. Let me be clear: The rates of crime--especially last year’s homocide rate--are too high. But there is a distinct (yes, related) problem of perception. I can assure you that the reason some people won’t set foot in Allentown after sunset is not a rational assesment of the crime rates. It’s one of the best established findings in all of social science that (a) people vastly overrate the rate of crime as well as their own personal risk; and that (b) the more people watch local TV news (with its if-it-bleeds-it-leads, ratings-driven crime coverage), the more likely they are to overestimate crime rates even more, support law-and-order candidates, etc. Allentown has a crime problem. It also has a perception of crime problem, and they’re not the same thing. I can’t tell you how many times I was told--by Muhlenberg’s PR director, faculty, my own real estate agent, countless Allentonians--that I would be a certain crime victim as my wife and I were trying to buy a house in center city Allentown. It’s an absurd exaggeration, but it’s a widely believed one. This is a pattern that all cities face, and it’s closely linked to unspoken (except on Morning Call comments) assumptions about race. But it’s more pronounced here for a lot of reasons, including the rapid changes in the city’s ethnic composition, the timing (and psychological impact) of the Hess’s/Leh’s closures (and the way this was widely read as a local, rather than a national surrender-to-the-malls downtown story).
Regardless of its source, all of the exaggerated fears of city center risk act like a self-fulfilling prophecy: People are afraid to come downtown, or dissuaded (like I was) by a real estate agent to even look at houses (“let me choose my words carefully: it’s not a professional neighborhood”). Followed by yet another Morning Call front-page screamer, with the reporter’s hardly-concealed contempt for the downtown. The result: “most people won’t set foot in Allentown after sunset.”
We’re all upset about crime in Allentown. Most of us are also upset about the coverage and perception of crime too, and believe that this is making things worse. Channeling Spiro Agnew (“rampant crime in Lehigh Valley cities, and especially Allentown...”) doesn’t help. (Unless it’s true: How do Allentown’s crime rates compare to other similarly sized American cities? How about big cities? How about the national rate? Maybe crime is truly “rampant,” by comparative measures like these. I’d like to see a full analysis, and wish I had the time.)
It is, in any event, encouraging that crime is declining: “Despite a record-tying year for homicides, violent crime in Allentown fell more than 18 percent in 2007 and crime dropped by nearly 9 percent overall, according to statistics compiled by the Pennsylvania State Police. It's the first time in six years the city has seen a drop in the total number of crimes, and the count is the lowest since 2002. Robberies dropped more than 18 percent in 2007, compared with the previous year, when there was a spike in that category. Aggravated assaults dropped 18 percent and rapes 30 percent” (Call 12/07). Bernie, you’re right that crime over the last eight years or so is roughly unchanged, but if you’re assessing Pawlowski it’s only fair to look at this year, mabye last year, and certainly the year to come.
It’s just plain unfair, anyway, to claim that Pawlowski’s anti-crime strategy is “fine dining.” This is a cheap shot--pure and simple--the kind that you call others out on all the time. I am not saying that Pawlowski has done enough, but it’s just factually inaccurate to claim his crime-fighting strategy is opening restaurants. You’re better than that.
Start with the historically small police force (“Instead of such a bloated administration, why not a few more cops?”): As I think we all know, the drastic reduction (about one-quarter) in the size of the police force is the result of a disastrous pension deal inked by Pawlowski’s notoriously incompetent predecessor, Roy Afflerbach--in which 52 officers just that year (with an average age of 45, attracted by the insane deal). More have retired since, on the modified (but still generous) terms that Pawlowski was able to wring out of the police union. The force has been hiring police as fast as it can since. Maybe you know something I don’t? This is not Pawlowski’s fault, is it? (“Allentown expects to enter the summer with 35 to 40 more police officers than it had last summer, allowing the department to expand patrols and start special divisions, including an anti-gang unit. Police Chief Roger MacLean and Mayor Ed Pawlowski swore in the 10 newest officers Wednesday. They are in various stages of training, some at the police academy and some on the street with veteran officers. When their training is complete, the city will have 198 officers, near its budgeted force of 202, MacLean said. He expects the city to have the final four recruits within a few weeks to a few months. The city slowly is rebuilding its ranks after budget cuts and early retirements by 53 officers caused them to dwindle from 242 four years ago.” (Call 4/26/07))
Fine dining?
Pawlowski has been a frequent and vocal supporter of community policing, and it’s only the mass retirements and budget deficits (also Afflerbach) that has delayed its implementation.
Still, already bicycle patrols are up and running in my downtown neighborhood. (“The new patrol is part of the city's ongoing effort to rebuild a police department that has seen its ranks significantly thinned by budget cuts and early retirements.” (Call 5/24/07)(
Many of the downtown surveillance cameras--the crime-reducing tactic made famous by Baltimore--are already up and running, and many more are planned (including for residential neighborhoods nearby, like the one I live in.) (“The $980,000 system, including a third-party project manager, will be funded by several sources, including a state grant of $220,000, the federal Weed and Seed program's $160,000 contribution, and $200,000 that Allentown Council must still approve in a transfer of money from the city's water fund. There's no question that Council approval is fully justified, and must happen on a timely basis” (Call editorial 6/3/2007)
Crimonologist George Kelling (of broken windows fame) is in the middle of conducting a 12-week (entirely grant-funded) review of the police department. “Hanover Justice Group of Hanover, N.H., led by criminologist George Kelling, will spend about 12 weeks riding with officers, talking with residents, reviewing policies and measuring crime, Mayor Ed Pawlowski said in a statement released Thursday. The city wants a candid analysis of what's working, what's not, and how Allentown can move toward citywide community policing, Pawlowski said” (Call, 10/27/07)
It’s just not accurate to say that Pawlowski wasn’t invovled in the anti-gang initiative. He was part of the grant-writing team that led to the $2.5 million in federal funding for the so-called Route 222 Corridor Anti-Gang Initiative, and with Allentown’s share of the money created an anti-gang unit. (“Unit members will come from the city Police Department's Vice and Intelligence, Criminal Investigation, Youth and Patrol divisions, as well as Martin's office, the FBI, the state police, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The unit will share headquarters with Allentown's Vice and Intelligence Division and the Lehigh County Drug Task Force, city Police Chief Roger MacLean said. Assistant Police Chief Ron Manescu, who has ultimate responsibility for the unit, said it will start with five to six members, eventually growing to eight to 10 with manpower contributions from other agencies” (Call 6/28))
I know nothing about the promise of the Sheriff’s help, nor the issue of citizen patrols, but I’ll take your word for it that Pawlowski pledged these and hasn’t come through. (Though I did see that he repeated his intention to create these patrols, in his state of the city address (Call, 1/26/08).) Regardless, it’s just unfair to say that his strategy is “fine dining,” or that it’s “laughably pathetic,” or that he’s done “next to nothing.”
I keep telling people that you are the best blogger in the Lehigh Valley, and I still believe it. But I am disappointed--and perplexed--by the post. Isn’t it a good thing for Allentown--even for Pawlowski--that Cunningham has funds and some good ideas?
Disclosure: My wife is executive director of the Allentown Redevelopment Authority.
Good for him. It nice to know that not everyone is either ignoring the problems of Allentown or exaggerating the problem without even trying to do anything about it
LOLV,
What is unwarranted and rude is your claim that bloggers are unfairly slamming Pawlowski, without identifying any of the bloggers in question or without describing those unfair slams. What is also unwarranted and rude is referring to an entire political party as a party of opression, or referring to McCain as a snake or Lincoln as a bigot or Cunningham as a golden boy. I saw that you qualified it but I'm sick of seeing erverything he does diminished by people who have no clue how difficult it is to run a county.
Ed Pawlowski did not propose - he promised three specific things. he broke every promise.
I have read patiently as you have posted many insensitive and divisive comments on this blog while calling others to account, including me, when we stray from your own sense of what is acceptable behavior. I am no longer willing to do so. You snark at unnamed bloggers for unnamed attacks is unacceptable. I won't tolerate that from you anymore.
most of the pawlowski attackers on this blog are unnamed!
Also, we don't have to get into this again, but Lincoln's bigotry is well-documented. AND I made that post in an entry PRAISING LINCOLN for being able to get past his bigotry, something shamefully few people are able to do in this day and age.
I clearly outlined, in that same thread of posts and comments, my reasons for thinking the modern republican party is the party of oppression and no amount of wrist-slapping from you or anyone else will convince me that a party whose platform includes denying equal rights to gays or forcing christian prayer into public schools attended by students of all faiths is NOT a party of oppression.
Similarly, I clearly outlined all of McCain's morally abhorrent positions which lead me to think of him as a snake.
Calling someone a well-deserved golden boy is not an insult by any stretch, and expressing my outrage and disgust at the republican party, John McCain, or the inability of bigots to rise to the challenge that Lincoln did (on another blog) is also not "insensitive and devisive" it is posting my perspective. If you don't want to hear it, I will keep it off your blog.
Jeff,
1) I am glad you have acknowledged that your wife is the exec director of A-town's Redevelopment Authority. This reveals your bias in this matter, and you are biased.
2) My statement that most people won't set foot in Allentown after sunset is only anecdotal I've done no studies. But most people I've spoken to will not set foot in downtown Allentown after dark unless they are in groups. I've heard this from people in Nazareth, Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown itself. They are afraid. There is nothing sloppy or untrue about that statement. It is how most people I've spoken to feel. It is why all the shops roll up those metal grates and bars at sunset and head for the hills.
3) I have no emotional vendetta against Pawlowski. I've never even met the man. And I have no interest in A-town politics. I do have an interest in A-town crime because that has an impact on all of us, including those of us who live in Nazareth.
4) Please don't make the perception vs. reality argument with me. It insults my intelligence and that of my readers. It is pure propaganda, and it's time that you stop. You have a record-tying 21 homicides last year. That's reality. I've looked at the raw data for the number of crimes committed in A-town over the last 8 years. That crime rate has remained steady. That is reality. I did a post about it only about a week ago, when Pawlowski was patting himself on the back over a bogus reduction in crime, the one you mention.
5) You're upset about the coverage of crime? Then you've got things backwards. In my community, we get pissed as hell when there is a crime and it is not reported. We want to know so we can take steps to deal with it. Two years ago, police kept a Nazareth rapist story under wraps until some enterprising reporter at ET brought it to light. In the meantime, this dude was walking the streets. One of a newspaper's most important responsibilities is to cover crime, and do so accurately. How dare you take them to task for that! You should want it all out there. That is a newspaper's duty.
6) Jeff, you claim you wish you had the time to compare A-town to other cities?? There's a difference between perception and reality and you don't even do your own homework?? The crime rate in A-town is much higher than Easton or Bethlehem, and much higher than the national average. I did a post on comparative crime rates, too. I'm not pulling this stuff out of my ass.
7) Crime in A-town has not dropped 9%. Those numbers are all bogus. I looked at the very same data that an inexperienced reporter viewed, but looked at them over an entire 8 year period instead of from one year to the next. In 2007, crime in A-town was just 0.02% below average, statistically significant. Because the population was lower, the crime rate was probably in fact higher. Homicide was 50% higher than the 8 year average. That is statistically significant. And so it goes. Before you argue, look at the data, dude. The perception is in fact the reality.
8) Pawlkowski's solution to the crime problem is fine dining. That's not a cheap shot at all. He spent his time in office developing places like the ABW, JM and that bus terminal that gets rid of all the riff raff from the beautiful people. That's his solution. I know it, and deep down, so do you. He wants to gentrify the area and drive the working poor away.
He certainly has not done any of the three things he promised to do when running for mayor. First, he promised to beef up the force, but it was at its lowest point in decades in 2006. Those are his own words. Second, he promised to involve the community in 2005. He's still making that same promise in 2008. Third, he promised to use LC deputy sheriffs and had Sheriff Rossi standing at his side as he made this promise. What the hell happened to that one?
He's done none of these things. His only answer really has been fine dining. The simple truth is that he has failed to keep his word.
9) It takes no rocket scientist to realize that less police means more crime. Pawlowski has not stopped the exodus, but instead is trying to sweep the poor out of the way, starting with Hamilton Street. Instead of making an effort to attract officers, he's changing bus routes.
10) On October 10, I asked you to help suffering Hamilton Street merchants and displaced bus passengers by putting pressure on the city, both in a personal email and in a comment on this blog. You never had the courtesy to even reply at either place. That told me all I needed to know.
11) I believe Pawlowski has been terrible for A-town bc of his mixed up sense of priorities. Instead of focusing on the city's safety, he has chosen economic development, he has fostered relations with the "pay to play" crowd, people like Lee Butz. He has a very strange number of people on his administrative staff that just happen to belong to the same church. He has not kept his word to the voter. Instead of lending a hand to a 75 year old woman who was mugged outside her apartment, he sics code on her for having a yard sale. And we all know about Tipgate. He's a bad mayor. Prove me wrong. It took the LC Exec to do something that might actually prevent a few crimes.
most of the pawlowski attackers on this blog are unnamed!
What, are you taking names now? Well, let's see, Bill Villa, AJ Cordi, Joe Hilliard and I all identify ourselves. You, on the other hand, are somewhat anonymous. I know you, but most readers don't. In truth, many more of Pawlowski's defenders are anonymous, but you don't set the rules on this blog now, do you? I allow most anonymous comments.
LOLV, if you are now defending your unfair shots at McCain, etc., why did you once apologize for making them?
These are your words. "One of the things that turns me off about blogging and about my fellow LV Bloggers is that often our elected officials, candidates, and local policy makers are written about in really disaparaging ways. I did it myself a few weeks ago in an argument with Bernie O'Hare over republican candidate John McCain."
Were you lying then or are you lying now?
Like I said, you're in no position to be throwing stones.
We could use Don in Northampton County. Maybe we could get out of neutral.
Pam,
Please read my post. I clearly stated "...any help is greatly appreciated."
That seems to be a pretty clear clear statement.
However, too many look to other levels of government - and other taxpayers - to fix specific problems. Instead of fixing the underlying problem.
What is the problem? Allentown does not have enough police. Why? Due to irresponsible fiscal management.
More and more people seem to think that as long as the money comes from somewhere, the problem is solved. If we can't take care of our own situation, why should we demand that 'others' foot the bill?
Bernie, regarding your request. A VERY DETAILED finanical report will be released. I just have to plug in the 2008 budget numbers. This report will go back to 2001.
Susan,
Yes, it is a county bridge. However, the Mayor demanded that the County fix the bridge "now" instead of waiting for the county to obtain other sources of funding.
However....
During Mayor Heydt's term, the Sumner Ave. extension project would have been delayed if he had waited for federal funds to come in. Instead, he used city money and we got a pretty nice road. And we still had $8 million in the bank when he left.
The point? A fiscally sound city can do a lot on its own. Our current Mayor seems to point fingers, blame others for his situation, and demand money from others to fix things.
I must clarify a continued myth. People keep saying that Pawlowski was 'handed' this bad police pension contract so he is not to blame. Two points:
1) As mayoral nominee, Ed Pawlowski lobbied Lou Hershman, Julio Guridy and possibly others to drop the first legal challenge to the pension deal. He stated that it would be "no big deal" and that "only nine" or so officers would retire. So he bears no responsibility?
2) During the second legal challenge Pawlowski caved. He got pennies in the deal. In about a month we will find out the rumored "surprise" about the police pension. The City will have to come up with about $5-6 million extra this year for the annual pension payment.
The report has been around since about September - but it has been kept under wraps. I mean, you wouldn't actually want to look at the information during budget time - would you? Nah! We have been warning about this for well over a year now - and as usual we have been attacked. In fact, others warned about the pension contract from the very beginning. Oh yeah, they were attacked also.
Do we see a pattern yet? Critics ask questions. Get no answers. They get their own information. Raise concerns. Get attacked by City Hall, and sometimes the MCall editorial board. Time goes by. Critics were right.
How many times does this have to be repeated?
But - everyone will act oh so surprised! And will they rush through another 48 hour loan to fix things.....?
I thought crime was down; why are we spending the money? Is it to beat the people down when we go into a deeper recession?
I think they know how bad it's going to get!
Jeff & LOLV:
Just ignore him. This guy has gone off the deep end.
He has lost all credibility since his rant the other day laced with Nazi signs and the N word. I'm surprised no one called him out on that. It was really offensive. He will screw up again, just sit back and watch him burn.
no Bernie, I'm not "taking names" my point was that YOU are asking me to "name names" but most of the people I was referring to when I said that he is unfairly slammed are anons, so I can't really call them out directly. I post my agreement or disagreement with slams on the mayor whenever I see fit, so you are calling me out over nothing.
Also, not everything is black and white. I can think that John McCain is a snake and also see that he is smart and has a few good ideas.
As Jeff pointed out before - it doesn't always have to be one way or another way. It doesn't have to be Cunningham OR Pawlowski. It doesn't have to be Allentown Brew Works OR House of Chen.
One of Mayor Ed's biggest flaws in my opinion is his inability to see the middle road or the compromise - he lives in a black and white world. I see that you do also.
What people need to understand about Don Cunningham’s proposal is that excess tax revenues are now being used to expand Lehigh County Government. Should we not all be asking whether it is the role of county government to provide funding for police officers to municipalities within the county? I think not. The local municipalities can more efficiently raise their own funds for this purpose rather than have it all run through the ever expanding county bureaucracy.
The fact that Don Cunningham’s Lehigh County has an extra million to apply to this “good cause” indicates to me the county is overtaxing its residents. In this, there is no doubt; the county is presently sitting on two separate “reserve funds” that each contains millions of dollars.
I suggest the county’s residents and municipalities would be better served by a cut in the county’s property tax rates. The savings this would provide to the county residents would allow each municipality to independently decide whether those savings should be applied to local public safety issues through additional local taxes. This is good government.
Scott Armstrong
While I will not rush judgement without seeing all the specs, at first glance I say, it sounds good. I have often said that the county really doesn't do enough for residents of Allentown for the taxdollars we pay. I, for one, would like to see more tax dollars coming into Allentown.
As a center city resident of Allentown I believe we could benefit greatly from more police, but the part to bear in mind is that we, the City of Allentown, have to have a Community Policing Plan in place. As of now, we really don't. How can we, when officers are in constant respond mode? The community also plays an integral part to that plan; thus far we have not been engaged. Quite honestly, the theory of everyone is a community police officer is a farce that the last police administration tried to sell the community when they pulled neighborhood officers off of the street and left all the police substations behind. (Which were donated by property owners, I might add.)
The interesting part to me is that Exec. Cunningham would like to establish officers with substations walking the beat or riding bike working the 3-11 shift. I really do believe that is what we need. As someone very involved with community groups there is a great cynicism and lack of trust between the community and the police. I'm not saying the cynicism is justified but exists none the less. I think that people seeing the same police on a regular basis in a designated area would start to establish a level of trust that is most sorely needed in a community where most feel disenfranchised. This, in and of iteself, is not a pancea but I think it's an appropriate start. The next move has to be done by our mayor and the curbing of his own spending of our money. How about putting money towards crime prevention instead? We don't need all the high price beauracracy that he has created in his administration.
LOLV,
No, not everything is black and white. That's why you are seriously mistaken when you refer to an entire political party as a party of oppression, or when you refer to McCain as a snake.
But some things are black and white. When a candidate breaks three campaign pledges about the most significant issue facing the city, I consider that a black and white issue. When he sics his code dogs on a 75 year old lady weho dares to have a yard sale (and I don't care if it's the 125th time that year), it's a black and whte issue.
Some things are right. Some things are wrong. It's important that someone point them out. When mostly minority Hamilton Street merchants were suffering, laying people off and canceling their health insurance, you bragged that you would be dancing in the streets just a block away. Maybe you think that is a gray area. I don't.
And to the anon who was so offended about my comparisopn of A-town to Deutshland, I stand by what I wrote. A city that sends memos tp encourage its citizens to dime each other out over code violations, using weords like "duty," is acting like a fascist state.
Those meds are taking their toll. LOL.
What is the world coming to when a citizen cannot call a presidential candidate a "snake?"
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran....
McCain is worse than a snake. Snakes are afriad and strike only when necessary. McCain wants pre-emptive war all over the middle east.
bernie
you keep harping on the phrase "broken campaign promises"! the last time i looked, mr ed had 2 years left in his term. i would say undelivered promises.(he still has time to make good on his promises.] BUT "broken promises" sounds more SENSATIONAL. more readers ,more attention fron msm.
and by the way I am not a MR ED minnion or apologist. I just observe the carnival float by
First of all, I congratulate Mr. Pooley for providing his comprehensive and well-written analysis.
To me, the acknowledgment Mr. Cunningham made concerning Allentown's crime problem (real and perceived), his ability to provide a specific plan of action, his willingness to offer something tangible to the solution, all characterize good elected leadership.
In this instance, I believe Mr. Cunningham has a better handle on a problem many of his constituents feel confronted with. Certainly more so than the apparent inaction of Mr. Pawlowski suggested.
I'm sure even Mr. Pooley recognizes the Allentown Mayor has been upstaged on this one. As the elected leader of the city, Mr. Pawloski should try never to be victim of that.
Bernie, the dancing in the streets comment was a sarcastic snark on my part at your gross hyperbole about dancing on the graves of the merchant. I didn't go to that event, and I don't support the city trying to push out merchants.
BUT "broken promises" sounds more SENSATIONAL. more readers ,more attention fron msm.
It seems to be working, too!
Come on, I could undertand not fully staffing the department, but Mayor Pawlowski went in reverse, the opposite direction. And his claim of knowledge of federal programs that would beef up the staff? If he was using these resurces and waiting for more staff, I'd agree it is just a promise unfulfilled. But there are no federal programs that supply police manpower. That ended with Clinton. So it is not a promise unfulfilled, but a broken promise. I'll accept what you're telling me and that you're no apologist.
LOLV,
There was a block party just one block away. It was called "Dancing in the Streets." I was highly offended that so-called progressives could even think of doing such a thin when just one block away, people were being laid off. My suggestion that they may as well be dancing on graves was entirely appropriate. What was not appropriate was my comparison of Hamilton St gentrification to ethnic cleansing. You criticized that suggestion, too, and I agree that was over the top and was wrong. I apologized to you when you pointed out and stopped making that analogy.
Hmmmmmmm....
TV69 reporting on Pawlowski press conference held this afternoon to address crime.
The right thing to do. Better late than never.
If this series of articles has pushed him to recognize what everyone outside his protective bubble knows, so much the better.
So all dancing needs to end because someone somewhere in the Valley is getting laid off? Sounds like the Taliban.
I agreed with your sentiment in that instance Bernie, just not the delivery.
Its old news now, and I was very caught up in family obligations at the time so I perhaps did not participate as carefully in that discussion as I should have, but....
Should a celebration of new businesses in downtown have been cancelled because of the LANTA debacle? I don't think so. Instead that event could have been turned into a way to bring the "new" and the "old" together. When I found out that established downtown merchants like House of Chen were being discluded from the event I was very turned off to it and in fact that was one of the main reasons I didn't go - but instead of pitting those who want to celebrate the new businesses downtown against the suffering merchants it could have been an opportunity to bring more attention to the plight of the merchants and to celebrate the already existing businesses who have managed to survive through Allentown's hard times along with the new successes. Rather than protesting against the event, you should have rallied for ALL merchants to be included in the celebration. Certainly the opportunity to bring together Hamilton Street merchants, government employees, the downtown business crowd, and residents would have benefitted everyone and instead of dismissing one to side with the other you could have taken that opportunity to build a bridge.
lolv, in all due respect, but one day mingling the old business with the new would not help the problem, THE PROBLEM is that the customers for the 700 block are the bus riders, who lanta and the "establishment" relocated to the terminal 3 blocks away, the customer base for the ABW, Manana's are the yuppies who drive and park.
excuse me but as a patron of businesses ALL OVER downtown Allentown, both new and old, I ask you to please not make sweeping generalizations.
You are right, one event would not have fixed the problem, but perhaps as part of a less antagonistic approach it would have helped. Because really, your approach only further pitted two "sides" against each other, and it didn't result in a satisfactory solution. Maybe a different approach would have. Honey/Vinegar/Flies, etc...
lolv, perhaps i should make myself more clear, the older existing merchants are being sacrificed to make the streetscape more pleasant for the new business, and you think the asians should go bow to the new order? there's a guy who is kidnapped, put into a gallery and made to row all the way across the atlantic, should he tip the whipper??
If a business must rely on a bus stop to survive, I'm thinking the business plan was not that sound. That's just me.
michael molovinsky - "Yuppie?" Is this 1984? You and BOH, peas in a pod. Yuppies and Elitists vs the Regular Folks. Got it.
bastard, if the bus riders are 30% of your business, thats alot to lose, that is the percentage that riteaid is down, these stores have been there for years, they had every reason to believe public transportation would continue as it always has in the past.
Gordon Gekko,
Gentrification is all the rage, my friend. It usually inures to the benefit of elitists and yuppies and against the working poor. In fact this is why I call Pawlowski's anti-crime plan fine dining. I believe he does want to drive the working poor out of Allentown. I stress that I believe that, but do not know it as fact. Just give me some time and I will. If I'm wrong, I'll admit that, too.
LOLV,
I remember quite well that you disagreed with my "delivery" when I first posted about Hamilton St and what I believed was discriminatory gentrification. I accepted your criticism as valid, especially insofar as the ethnic cleansing remark was concerned. I listened to Jeff Pooley and believed him when he told me there was no discrimination occurring, de facto or intentional.
But I also asked him for his help and he just ignored me. I asked the Curmudgeon for his/her help, and was ignored there, too.
When I discovered that House of Chen was not included in the "Dancing in the Streets" celebration, the handouts were already out, listing all the places that would be catering to the beautiful people. I specifically asked Jenny Chen if she wanted me to raise a stink about her establishment not being included, and was asked not to do so. She was afraid that, in retaliation, her place would be excluded from future "celebrations." Although HOC and ABW have completely different customer bases, as Michael points out so well, I see no reason why the two could not be together. That would make the event more appealing to ALL A-town residents, not just the beautiful people.
So all dancing needs to end because someone somewhere in the Valley is getting laid off? Sounds like the Taliban.
The partying was going on a block away from businesses that were suffering, laying people off, and canceling health insurance. You like to party under those circumstances? Knock yourself out.
If your thesis is correct, replacing the "working poor" with people with lots of money spreading it around seems a sound decision. More business, more jobs for the "working poor." How Republican of the mayor.
If your thesis is correct, replacing the "working poor" with people with lots of money spreading it around seems a sound decision. More business, more jobs for the "working poor." How Republican of the mayor.
But it doesn't work that way. First, one of the places, JM, is a chain restaurant. All the profits leave the city. Smaller businesses like HOC are local, and the money stays here. That is true of ABW as well, but not true of some of the other places in the KOZ. The money does not get "spread around." In case you haven't noticed, the disparity between those on the top and those on the bottom grows wider every day. Even if the money was "spread around" to the working poor, it would be a different group than the one that is already there. That group will be displaced by a younger, and whiter, group of working poor. This is what happens during discriminatory gentrification. It is what is alreadt us happening in A-town. Two businesses have closed their doors. Some have had to cut benefitrs. They are all suffering.
And because the streets are emptier, criminals have less to worry about when they decide to rob one of these stores, and they have.
Bernie: I must admit that I've found the tenor of the discussion--most of it, anyway--depressing. No more high school debate tricks and schoolyard taunting; none of us have enough time. I feel like I have been guilty of this too, and for that I apologize. From the first moment I came across Lehigh Valley Ramblings, I was impressed by your mix of investigative digging, wit, and obvious intelligence. It's my honest opinion that you have more raw talent than much of the national commentariat. I'm not blowing air up your ass--I actually think this.
My point is that you shouldn't squander your credibility by making unsubstantiated, below-the-belt cheap shots about public figures or, for that matter, commenters on your blog. My advice is to treat your friends and enemies with a little more respect, especially in the sense of treating us (unless proven otherwise) as acting in good faith.
I'm tired and don't feel like going through this all, but here goes:
1) I am glad you have acknowledged that your wife is the exec director of A-town's Redevelopment Authority. This reveals your bias in this matter, and you are biased.
I hope that you don't mean to state that anything I write concerning Allentown is instantly discredited. I don't think you believe this, which is why I find the charge to be a cheap debating trick and not serious. My opinions about downtown Allentown and perceptions of crime long predate my wife's hiring, as you well know. It's worth stating, too, that my wife (a low-income housing consultant to other cities) agreed to take a pay cut to join the Redevelopment Authority because she was so impressed by Pawlowski's seeming competence, policy knowledge, and background in low-income housing at Alliance for Building Communities. We've both been devoting a big chunk of our time trying to help the city, and it's just insulting to be dismissed with an all-purpose "you are biased."
2) My statement that most people won't set foot in Allentown after sunset is only anecdotal I've done no studies. But most people I've spoken to will not set foot in downtown Allentown after dark unless they are in groups. I've heard this from people in Nazareth, Easton, Bethlehem and Allentown itself. They are afraid. There is nothing sloppy or untrue about that statement. It is how most people I've spoken to feel. It is why all the shops roll up those metal grates and bars at sunset and head for the hills.
As I stated in my earlier comment, I don't dispute this at all. As I tried to explain, though, there is a difference between perceptions of crime in Allentown--which you are clearly describing here--and actual rates of crime. As I stated repeatedly, both are big problems: the crime rate in Allentown, and the perception of crime in Allentown. To put it slightly differently, the fact that most people are afraid to set foot in downtown Allentown is not the result just of the crime rate, but is instead mixed in with the trauma of the city's major, rapid (and late by national standards) demographic and downtown retail changes, alarmist media coverage, unspoken but widespread racial attitudes. It has to be possible to concede--as I have again and again--that crime is a major problem, and to insist at the same time that exaggerated perceptions of "rampant" crime are a boulder-sized obstacle to Allentown's recovery.
3) I have no emotional vendetta against Pawlowski. I've never even met the man. And I have no interest in A-town politics. I do have an interest in A-town crime because that has an impact on all of us, including those of us who live in Nazareth.
I actually think that you have the right intentions. As I read it, you have a hard time seeing poor people screwed, which counts as a virtue in my book. I think you also take pleasure in needling self-righteous hot air, which is also a plus in your column. You are rightly suspicion of money mixing in with politics. I do think, though, that you made a too-quick and far too sweeping judgment about Pawlowski, one that has blinded you a bit to a much much more complex reality here on the ground.
4) Please don't make the perception vs. reality argument with me. It insults my intelligence and that of my readers. It is pure propaganda, and it's time that you stop. You have a record-tying 21 homicides last year. That's reality. I've looked at the raw data for the number of crimes committed in A-town over the last 8 years. That crime rate has remained steady. That is reality. I did a post about it only about a week ago, when Pawlowski was patting himself on the back over a bogus reduction in crime, the one you mention.
Here again, I think you're using sophistry, and in an uncalled for, knife-lunging way ("It is pure propaganda, and it's time that you stop"). Please go back and read my post: I was at pains to stress, again and again, that the crime problem is real. I don't dispute that. My belief--which is a reasoned belief, not deliberate distortion as "propaganda" implies--is that exaggerated perceptions of crime are also a problem. This isn't crazy talk; it's a problem a lot of cities face, and yes, it's tied up with the alarmist, sensational, and racially tinged ways suburban-dwellers get their news. This is backed up by a great deal of published research. I also explicitly referenced your post about Allentown's constant eight-year crime rate. The other figures I pointed to--the one-year declines--also happen to be true. In fact, it's the same data. That Allentown's crime rate has remained too high for eight years is reason to be upset, though we surely can't lay that on Pawlowski's two or three years in office. The one-year decline (notwithstanding the appalling homicide rate) is, on its own, good news--of course. And it also happens to be suggestive evidence that Pawlowski *may* be doing something right on crime, though it's far too early to tell.
5) You're upset about the coverage of crime? Then you've got things backwards. In my community, we get pissed as hell when there is a crime and it is not reported. We want to know so we can take steps to deal with it. Two years ago, police kept a Nazareth rapist story under wraps until some enterprising reporter at ET brought it to light. In the meantime, this dude was walking the streets. One of a newspaper's most important responsibilities is to cover crime, and do so accurately. How dare you take them to task for that! You should want it all out there. That is a newspaper's duty.
Again, why this nasty tone? Of course crime should be reported. To suggest otherwise is to prop up the flimsiest of strawmen. Journalists are supposed to give us an accurate and comprehensive picture of our community, and the only thing that I claim--uncontroversially, I think--is that the news judgments that reporters often use (page one placement, relative column-inches, carefully placed alarmist kicker quotes) help to create exaggerated crime fears. These judgments are often ratings- or circulation-driven. I also don't think it's controversial to point out that the Call, certainly in the five years since I've lived here, is especially egregious in this respect.
6) Jeff, you claim you wish you had the time to compare A-town to other cities?? There's a difference between perception and reality and you don't even do your own homework?? The crime rate in A-town is much higher than Easton or Bethlehem, and much higher than the national average. I did a post on comparative crime rates, too. I'm not pulling this stuff out of my ass.
As I stated very clearly, there is almost nothing as well-established in social science research that people *vastly* overestimate both the rates of crime and their own personal risk. Unless Allentown's crime rates are hundreds of times worse than comparable cities, it is safe to assume that there is a gap between perception and reality. Your anecdotal evidence about folks being unwilling to set foot in downtown Allentown--which, like I said, is confirmed in my exposure to other suburbanites' attitudes--is yet more evidence. I intend, by the way, to look into the figures, and will report back.
7) Crime in A-town has not dropped 9%. Those numbers are all bogus. I looked at the very same data that an inexperienced reporter viewed, but looked at them over an entire 8 year period instead of from one year to the next. In 2007, crime in A-town was just 0.02% below average, statistically significant. Because the population was lower, the crime rate was probably in fact higher. Homicide was 50% higher than the 8 year average. That is statistically significant. And so it goes. Before you argue, look at the data, dude. The perception is in fact the reality.
Those numbers aren't bogus, they're just different ranges of time. The reporter cited the one-year decline. You cited the 8-year average. I cited both, explicitly. They tell us different things, but they are obviously both true (to the extent that the data-gathering is sound). Why the nasty aside: "Before you argue, look at the data, dude."
8) Pawlkowski's solution to the crime problem is fine dining. That's not a cheap shot at all. He spent his time in office developing places like the ABW, JM and that bus terminal that gets rid of all the riff raff from the beautiful people. That's his solution. I know it, and deep down, so do you. He wants to gentrify the area and drive the working poor away.
I will re-post my comments about gentrification in a moment. We respectfully disagree about Pawlowski's intention and even whether early gentrification is a bad thing. Fine. But to call "fine dining" Pawlowski's solution to crime is just not meeting the minimum standards of fairness. I went through a number of on-the-record initiatives that Pawlowski has implemented or announced. You utterly ignore each of these, and merely repeat the "fine dining" cheap shot and the stale "three promises" mantra. Maybe Pawlowski's policies are crap, but you owe all of your readers the acknowledgment of the indisputable factual reality that the mayor has a series of crime-related initiatives.
He certainly has not done any of the three things he promised to do when running for mayor. First, he promised to beef up the force, but it was at its lowest point in decades in 2006. Those are his own words. Second, he promised to involve the community in 2005. He's still making that same promise in 2008. Third, he promised to use LC deputy sheriffs and had Sheriff Rossi standing at his side as he made this promise. What the hell happened to that one?
On the first point, you just have the facts flatly wrong. He has--and this has been reported over and over again--beefed up the force, so much so that it is almost at the pre-Afflerbach level. The force was at its lowest point, yes, just after he assumed office because he took office in the middle of the retirement wave--which of course had nothing to do with him. Since then he's rebuilt the force by over 50 officers, which again is not a matter of dispute. On the second and third points, you are right, though it's a bit bizarre to call these broken pledges when he's only halfway through his term. It's only fair to note, in the scheme of things, that these aren't the most significant of his crime proposals. Here are the debating tricks again: you reduce his range of on-the-record proposals to "three broken pledges"--as if this is all he's said on crime--and repeat the point until you're red in the face. Another (three-headed) strawman.
9) It takes no rocket scientist to realize that less police means more crime. Pawlowski has not stopped the exodus, but instead is trying to sweep the poor out of the way, starting with Hamilton Street. Instead of making an effort to attract officers, he's changing bus routes.
The bus route change--bad policy, I completely agree--just doesn't have anything to do with how many officers the city has or doesn't have. He had a hand in a bad decision on the bus route. Agreed. This has absolutely nothing to do with the size of the police force, which of course has grown substantially.
10) On October 10, I asked you to help suffering Hamilton Street merchants and displaced bus passengers by putting pressure on the city, both in a personal email and in a comment on this blog. You never had the courtesy to even reply at either place. That told me all I needed to know.
Bernie, I didn't ignore your. I *never* received a personal email from you on this, and I never saw your posted reply to my blog comment, because I just didn't ever return to the comments thread. This may be a violation of blogging ettiquette, but I doubt it tells you all "you needed to know." I have, incidentally, made the case that the bus terminal was a bonehead and insensitive move, repeatedly in named blog comments and in a conversation with a LANTA board member.
11) I believe Pawlowski has been terrible for A-town bc of his mixed up sense of priorities. Instead of focusing on the city's safety, he has chosen economic development, he has fostered relations with the "pay to play" crowd, people like Lee Butz. He has a very strange number of people on his administrative staff that just happen to belong to the same church. He has not kept his word to the voter. Instead of lending a hand to a 75 year old woman who was mugged outside her apartment, he sics code on her for having a yard sale. And we all know about Tipgate. He's a bad mayor. Prove me wrong. It took the LC Exec to do something that might actually prevent a few crimes.
My response to your reasonable arguments about gentrification are in my re-post, to follow in a moment. Here I respectfully disagree. (I have no idea what you mean about the church.) I actually think--so far--he's a pretty good mayor. This is my honest opinion. It's a much longer conversation, but one that I am more than willing to have, with civility. Certainly the Cunningham announcement that started this whole thread is good news for him, for Pawlowski and for Allentown.
Here's my older comment on gentrification:
Bernie, You have my deepest respect as (by far) the best blogger in the Lehigh Valley, with real investigative instincts and a strong moral compass. Still, you've got this one wrong. I'm not referring to some parking lot and its disputed sales history. What you've got wrong is the frame itself: a city hellbent on driving out minority businesses to make way for white yuppies. If this were true, I would be pissed off too. But it's not.
The decision to close/move those LANTA stops was a bad one. Those business owners deserve to raise hell about it--I agree. But your mistake is to impute a sinister motive when sheer incompetence is the much better explanation. And your second mistake is to read a concerted strategy by LANTA and the city of Allentown to drive out minority-owned businesses. I find that highly implausible, and regardless you would need a lot more proof than anything you've provided to make that charge in a responsible way. What you've done is shove a bundle of facts into an ill-fitting David-and-Goliath narrative, and you're pretty seriously distorting the situation as a result.
My reaction to the silly comments of Che and others--and to the serious posts of Bernie--is to smile a little bit. If only Allentown had a gentrification problem! I've lived on 6th Street for four years now, and spend a great deal of time on Hamilton, at Spooners, the Brew Works, Hamilton Perk, etc. What's striking is how little gentrification has happened in downtown Allentown. The city would, in fact, benefit from some gentrification. Most of those merchants you claim to be speaking for, in fact, would benefit. So would the neighborhoods around Hamilton, and their residents too. This is true for a number of reasons, but I'll mention just one: For many years now most of the neighborhoods around Hamilton have had home values below the maintenacne threshold, meaning it made no economic sense to put in, for example, a new roof, since you couldn't recoup that cost in the home sale. This hurt everyone--poor tenants and all--and put these neighborhoods in a potential death spiral.
There's more than a little bit of the old Onion headline here: "Three-year resident decries gentrification." As anyone who works on low-income housing and economic revitalization knows, gentrification is a valuable but dangerous tool--good in moderate doses, but awful for low-income residents past a certain tipping point of unaffordability.
Anyone who thinks that downtown Allentown is anywhere near that point doesn't know much about Allentown or its challenges.
So it's all a little too much--and again I can't help but smile--to pit the Brew Works against Mish Mash, or to claim there's some kind of conspiracy on behalf of the big guys to snuff out Loco Dollar. Come on. The ABW is obviously a great thing for Hamilton, as is--and watch out for your own class bias in sneering at chain Mexican--Johnny Mananas. So is House of Chen. So is En Vogue. This is no zero-sum game: They all deserve the city's (and LANTA's support).
The Brew-Works-as-yuppie-den claims are especially silly, as that now-outdated rhetoric of kill-the-yuppies is (and I know as a San Franciscan) almost always spoken by precious, leftism-as-a-lifestyle-choice hipsters. But I forgive: Allentown needs those hipsters too! In fact so does the Brew Works.
The bottom line is that LANTA made a truly crappy decision, and it should be reversed--and the mayor should be pressured on this too.
But you've framed this one wrong.
Jeff,
I appreciate that you took the time to come back and read my response. I appreciate that you did so at a time when you were tired. We should not blog when we are tired, but I find no way to avoid it. My post to you last night was at midnight, and I was in the middle of preparing three posts for today. I think I should have waited before reading your post and taken the time I needed to digest it.
I apologize for the tone in my earlier comment. You are one of the first persons I've met in the blogosphere, and should have been more respectful and should understand your sincerity. You are right to call me task for my combative tone.
And I will say thjat I have very high regard for the work you've done fort the LV blogoshere. You are one of the pioneers.
Whenever I write about A-town, I see ample evidence of commenters who have proven to me that they are not acting in good faith or are, quite simply, elitists. It infuriates me to see hardworking merchants disparaged or cavalierly dismissed, or the bus passengers treated as though they have leprosy. But that is no excuse for getting irate with you.
I am, as your mayor so eloquently stated, from the boonies of Northampton County. But I have two sisters who reside in A-town. I have a grandson who lives there and is active in three different sports in town. I even found myself involved in coaching in A-town. I've come to know the residents, and these are the mostly black and Latino residents of A-town. They are not good people. They are great people, unfairly maligned almost every day.
I will disagree about making below the belt, cheap shots, at public figures. I've hit Pawlowski hard, but there have been no personal attacks. I don't believe in that. My claims have been substantiated. They may be disagreeable to some people who view Pawlowski differently.
I think I understand your perception v. reality argument. Unfortunately, what this has led to is an attempt to deny reality by others. When a business decided to leave A-town after a shooting (and homicide) outside the premises, Pawlowski actually blames the media for this decision. It is not the media, but the crime, that caused this business to leave. Unfortunately, too many people don't understand that denying a problem is actually worse than admitting the reality. But I can see that you understand the difference.
I also agree that both figures are correct, especially since they derive from the same date. Between 2006 and 2007, there was a decrease in crime. In 2006, the police force was at an all time low. The 2007 stats are about the same as the stats over the past 8 years. So crime is not really on the way down.
As far as the MC's coverage of A-town crime is concerned, I think it has been fair. I don't have your background, and won't argue the point with you, but see no undue emphasis on crime. I do hate the reader forum. But I'll leave that argument to you and the MC. I know you have quite a bit of expertise in this area and respect your views. I am, sure the MC editorial board would take your criticism very seriously.
Jeff, I wish you had been at the Faith Baptist Church to listen to Zee Weikel or Barbadel. Zee Weikel's yard sale was closed down bc it's one of those "quality of life" things. According to her, it was instigated by the mayor, and that's what code enforcement officers told her. Barbadel spoke to a LANTA administrator and was specifically told that the idea of eliminating the stops and transfers near hamilton were also at the instigation of the mayor. Realtors selling lofts nearby told prospective tenants that the bus people would soon be brushed out of the way. There is no hard evidence yet, but there sure is a lot of smoke about whether this is discriminatory gentrification.
As far as the mayor's broken promises, I stand by what I said. His campaign newsletter claimed he had knowledge of federal programs that would result in more police. That simply was untrue. There are no such programs. Staffing went down, not up, as was promised. He had to beef up the force because it was at its lowest point since the 60s. He had to know this was coming. He has to know it is coming again this and next year. I know it up here in the boonies. As far as the other two promises, those LC sheriffs should have been tapped in 2006, when they were needed most. How can this be viewed as anything other than a broken promise? On the last point, he has stated in 2006 and again in 2007 that he is working on citizen volunteers. But I see scant evidence other than the mere words.
After two years, it's time enough for some concrete steps to know he is following through. I don't think we have this.
Is he a good mayor? I thought so at first, but no more. But I don't cast a vote there. I do know people who do. When I say his solution to crime is fine dining, I of course refer to his economic development plans. I'll agree they can help, but the most immediate concern must be the law enforcement officers. A good cop is worth his weight in gold.
I'd be willing to continue this conversation with you, civilly, one on one. I honestly believe A-town is headed in the wrong direction. I am willing to be proved wrong. My email is BOHare5948@aol.com. If you're interested, I'll buy you dinner and we can talk.
I'd even be willing to post a guest blog from you or another good writer to explain why Pawlowski is a good mayor and is doing things right by the city.
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